Knife of Dreams by Robert Jordan

The Wheel of Time turns, and Robert Jordan gives us the eleventh volume of his extraordinary masterwork of fantasy. The dead are walking, men die impossible deaths, and it seems as though reality itself has become unstable: All are signs of the imminence of Tarmon Gai'don, the Last Battle, when Rand al'Thor, the Dragon Reborn, must confront the Dark One as humanity's only hope. But Rand dares not fight until he possesses all the surviving seals on the Dark One's prison and has dealt with the Seanchan, who threaten to overrun all nations this side of the Aryth Ocean and increasingly seem too entrenched to be fought off. But his attempt to make a truce with the Seanchan is shadowed by treachery that may cost him everything. Whatever the price, though, he must have that truce. And he faces other dangers. There are those among the Forsaken who will go to any length to see him dead--and the Black Ajah is at his side.... Unbeknownst to Rand, Perrin has made his own truce with the Seanchan. It is a deal made with the Dark One, in his eyes, but he will do whatever is needed to rescue his wife, Faile, and destroy the Shaido who captured her. Among the Shaido, Faile works to free herself while hiding a secret that might give her her freedom or cause her destruction. And at a town called Malden, the Two Rivers longbow will be matched against Shaido spears. Fleeing Ebou Dar through Seanchan-controlled Altara with the kidnapped Daughter of the Nine Moons, Mat attempts to court the woman to whom he is half-married, knowing that she will complete that ceremony eventually. But Tuon coolly leads him on a merry chase as he learns that even a gift can have deep significance among the Seanchan Blood and what he thinks he knows of women is not enough to save him. For reasons of her own, which she will not reveal until a time of her choosing, she has pledged not to escape, but Mat still sweats whenever there are Seanchan soldiers near. Then he learns that Tuon herself is in deadly danger from those very soldiers. To get her to safety, he must do what he hates worse than work.... In Caemlyn, Elayne fights to gain the Lion Throne while trying to avert what seems a certain civil war should she win the crown.... In the White Tower, Egwene struggles to undermine the sisters loyal to Elaida from within.... The winds of time have become a storm, and things that everyone believes are fixed in place forever are changing before their eyes. Even the White Tower itself is no longer a place of safety. Now Rand, Perrin and Mat, Egwene and Elayne, Nynaeve and Lan, and even Loial, must ride those storm winds, or the Dark One will triumph.

The long-awaited book 11 is finally here, almost twenty years since book 1 came out. It was sad that Robert Jordan passed away before he could see to the completion of his epic series.

If you've read the previous ten books, there's probably no review that will stop you from reading book 11. For me, this book shows some of style and better editing of the first 5 books. A lot of plot lines actually progressed, and there's a lot less pointless ramblings and irrelevant tangents very much evident in books 6 to 10. The pacing is uneven; you'll still getting very slow parts, but at least there are faster-paced parts.

Brandon Sanderson will have a tough time wrapping up the story in his three books. It very clearly shows in this book that there's way too many plot lines. Unfortunately, many of the plot lines focused on in this book are not important, such as giving too much time to Galina and the Shaido. Egwene's story progressed the most, good progress in Mat's (including cool new perspectives) and Perrin's arcs. Lan's and Nynaeve's, Elayne's, and Rand's didn't progress as much as I'd like to see (Rand appeared only halfway through the book). There's also very little progress around the Forsaken. Still, the pacing and the actual progress in the storyline gives this book a very fresh feel compared to the quite horrible book 10, it's not as good as book 1, but it's good enough for me to like it.

5.00/5.00 “My name is Nynaeve ti al'Meara Mandragoran. Lan told me once that Malkier lives so long as one man wears the hadori in pledge that he will fight the Shadow, so long as one woman wears the ki'sain in pledge that she will send her sons to fight the Shadow. I wear the ki'sain, Master Aldragoran. My husband wears the hadori. So do you. Will Lan Mandragoran ride to the Last Battle alone?”

Knife of Dreams is a testament to Robert Jordan's legacy. The Wheel of Time is weaving closer, some threads nearing the end, some ending to bring us to Tarmon Gai'don. The most perfect way to bring Lan's story to the end was exceuted in this book. Plot threads laid in the early books, world building done in early books and characters from earlier books all come together at various points to weave this story. How wonderful. Never again will we see a story as grand as the Wheel of Time.

This book is one of fantasy's finest. One of the longest and most complex story in fantasy is finally maturing some characters and is bringing character development close to the end, which is so satisfying to see.

This book is not perfect. One of the storylines (we know who this is) is not good as the other and takes away from this book.

“My name is Rand al'Thor. I'm the Dragon Reborn.” And they wailed at hearing his name.

Emotional Impact -> Egwene's story, rebel aes sedai story, Mat's battles, Perrin's battle, Rand's battle, Rand's loss, Lan's legacy. Knife of Dreams is a dream come true. While the book is packed with so many good stories. We have to suffer through Elayne's nonsense. This takes away from this book being perfection. As you command, Mother. Characters -> Egwene!!! "She comes! She comes! The Watcher of the Seals, The Flame of Tar Valon, the Amyrlin Seat."The Amyrlin Seat indeed. When Egwene was made Amyrlin seat back in book 6, I was unconvinced. Now I understand. 11 books of character development has led to this. Chained by the Seanchan, Trained by the Aiel, Flamed by the Rebels, Egwene al'Vere will lead the Aes Sedai to the Last Battle. Matrim Cauthon!!! A man of many layers ? Matrim Cauthon made an onion look like an apple!" Robert Jordan is right. Mat is a complicated man. Brave but not too brave, rapscallion and an unwilling hero. Mat's reactions to some things infuriate me. But I get it. He is the flawed human that he is. He smiles at Tuon's beauty while condemning her desire to enslave. A wife for an enemy, and enemy for a wife. It's time to toss the dice. I hate Tuon. I hope she dies a slow painful death. But I care.. that says a lot. I don't like Mat's relationship with Tuon. I think all of Mat's relationships are bad. I hate Elayne. I hope she dies a slow painful death. And I don't care. This is a problem. Elayne is the weakest character in the Wheel of Time. She is a blunder, a walking talking channeling and pregnant catastrophe. She got hundreds of people killed and shamelessly claimed that it wasn't her fault. It is totally her fault!!! Vandene died because of Elayne's stupidity. I really hope we acknowledge how useless she is, but I don't think that is going to happen. I think RJ wrote Elayne as a severely flawed character who managed to luck into things with the help of more competent friends. Egwene, then Nynaeve, then Rand, and now Dyelin and Birgitte. Rand and Logain are great, but not much development. Lan and Nynaeve almost do a guest appearance in this book but they rock the few pages they feature in. If it wasn't for Elayne, I would give a better score here. Still pretty high. Plot -> To say the wheel of time has great plot is a gross understatement. The wheel weaves so well . So complex, intricate and beautiful. Lan takes the gold, followed closely by Egwene. So many battles, such an unpredictable story. Where is it going ? Elayne sucks but everything else is amazing. That moment when lewis therin unleashes on the Shadowspawn, that moment when Nicola calls Egwene "Mother". All those battles! Moiraine's Letter ! Seanchan and Rand!Prose -> So much better. Some poetic writing, some beautiful lines, some amazingly immersive chapters, some crazy battle visuals! Second only to the Great Hunt!Worldbuilding -> Burn me, Light burn me! AelFinn and EelFinn, the colors, Lewis Therin, Tinker-Seanchan, Aes Sedai Ajah heads, Malkier, Aviendha's Talent, the signs of Tarmon Gai'don! The crazy horror style touch of darkness, Aes Sedai-Ashman interaction, so much so much. Please gimme more.

Executive Summary: Slow in places, but nothing like the last few books. This book felt like a return to form for Mr. Jordan. Sadly it was his last. Audiobook: Another fantastic job from Michael Kramer and Kate Reading. They really make this world come alive and have always made the slower parts of the series pass by much easier. Full ReviewI remember really enjoying this book on my first read. I enjoyed it just as much on my second. By this point in the series Mat was by far my favorite character. This book is a lot of Mat. This time around I still enjoyed his parts the best. We also probably get one of my favorite revelations of the series during his chapters.Tuon is an interesting character, but I don't think I appreciated how horrible she actually is. Her actions towards slavery and particularly the way women who can channel are treated like animals is appalling. Yet despite all that, I still find her parts particularly enjoyable. I'm not sure how to resolve those conflicting feelings with each other.We also finally get some resolution to one of my least favorite subplots. Perrin used to be my favorite, but for the last several books his chapters have been frustrating. Now things can move on, and if I remember correctly, I enjoyed the rest of his story much more than the middle parts.Nynaeve had a relatively small part in this book, but what she did is yet another reason that despite all the braid tugging and skirt straightening that she became one of my favorites of the series.The stuff with Rand has also gotten much better and a few of the most interesting chapters in the book belong to him.Egwene's chapters are probably my favorite after Mat's. In the last few books she was starting to really come into her own, and her circumstances in this book let her really shine on her own. Elaine on the other hand I found a bit of a struggle to read. It seemed as though her story was dragged out a bit too much. Things are finally moving along by the end of the book however.The last few books seemed to be a lot of moving pieces around, and this book seems to finally be moving things along. It really is the beginning of the end of the series, and sadly the last complete book we got from Mr. Jordan. This series gets a lot of (deserved) criticism for it's length, but I feel like with this book we were finally getting the quality of those first few books that made me fall in love with the series in the first place.It's a shame he didn't get to finish it on his own, but as a rather biased [a:Brandon Sanderson 38550 Brandon Sanderson https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1394044556p2/38550.jpg] fan, I hope Mr. Jordan would be content with how the rest of the series turned out. I know I am.